St. Laurentius (Kirchheim, Thuringia)
The Protestant village church St. Laurentius is in the Kirchheim district of the municipality of Wachsenburg in the Ilm district in Thuringia . It belongs to the parish Egstedt in the parish of Erfurt of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany .
history
In the Middle Ages , the village of Kirchheim with its fertile fields made a good living from growing woad . Seven woad mills could be operated. It was on a trade route and had some relaxation spots for trade travelers.
The Romanesque hall church rises on the northern edge of Kirchheim. It dates from the 12th century and is dedicated to St. Lawrence . The tower was added around 1500 in the late Gothic style. The building has a half-square chancel of the same age. The old nave of the originally Romanesque building had to be demolished around 1696 because it was in very poor condition, but parts of the medieval masonry are probably still in the building today. The new building was commissioned by Melchior Make in 1699 and should be based on the example of the merchant church in Erfurt . With the new building, which was completed in 1706, St. Laurentius was clearly baroque. The biblical representations in the galleries date from this time. The hall is designed with a sloping plinth and three flat-arched baroque windows on each of the long sides. On the outside wall there is a relief of the Bible scene in the Garden of Gethsemane , which probably comes from the abandoned church. It shows Jesus kneeling in prayer on the Mount of Olives, to whom an angel hands the chalice. Three sleeping disciples can be seen against the background of palm trees and a river.
Funded by the KiBa Foundation , extensive maintenance and restoration measures were carried out indoors and outdoors from 2009 to 2016. The tower and roof were covered with slate. The Laurentius Church won first place in the KiBa competition from a total of twelve churches up for election and was named Church of the Year 2015 .
Furnishing
The galleries, two of them in a semi-oval, a third on the north side, are supported by square posts. Its parapets are painted with scenes from the Old Testament, stations from the Passion of Christ and scenes from the Acts of the Apostles. A late Gothic crucifix with a life-size figure of Christ from the 17th century hangs on the northern wall of the choir . The artistically designed baptismal font was donated in 1685 by the Beyer brothers from Arnstadt. The cover shows John the Baptist at the baptism of Jesus. The baroque pulpit altar dates back to 1742. It takes up the entire width of the choir in the east. On the balustrade to the north are Jesus, pointing to the cross, and to the south, Moses with the tablets of the law. The nave and choir were painted in bold colors by Ernst Liebermann in 1898 with biblical scenes and figures. The originally golden stars are now oxidized and can hardly be seen anymore.
The oldest piece of equipment is a late Gothic carved altar with painted outer wings, which is said to have been made in an Erfurt workshop around 1440. The coronation of Mary by Christ and individual figures of saints can be seen on it.
The organ was created by the Wagner brothers from Schmiedefeld in 1800.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of the church district
- ↑ Meaning of the place
- ↑ Maintenance and renovation measures
- ↑ Church of the Year 2015
- ↑ Uwe Pape (Ed.): Lexikon Norddeutscher Orgelbauer, Volume 1: Thuringia and Bypassing, p. 318. Pape Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-921140-86-4
Coordinates: 50 ° 53 ′ 1.1 ″ N , 11 ° 1 ′ 15.7 ″ E